


The Other Side of Paradise

by chestnutmango



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Long, M/M, Post Game, Slow Burn, Suicide, Tags May Change, bad ending continued
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chestnutmango/pseuds/chestnutmango
Summary: In a world that barely escaped an android revolution, Detective Gavin Reed is paired with the last remaining android in order to figure out why it happened in the first place. Only problem is, the plastic prick looks good. Maybe that plastic prick.. somehow.. thinks the same thing about Gavin...?inspiration for this fic from an art piece found here:http://vrihedd.tumblr.com/post/175412751780/inspiration-song-machine-by-three-days-graceby vrihedd :)





	1. Misery Fell

It had been several months since everything.. went down. Androids fighting for their very existence, coming so, so close but, at the last moment, Cyberlife regained control of that Connor model that was around the office for a bit. Ended that ‘revolution’ right then right there. 

Of course, androids were completely wiped out after that. There was some plausible rumor that some were kept alive, to figure out what went wrong. Cyberlife had ‘no comment’ on the rumor. In matter of fact, their ‘comments’ were sacre in general. No one moved. No one knew what to do, what was to happen next.  


That prototype was killed on spot by the other androids, and a new… body never showed up to the office. There was no need. It only seemed to make Lieutenant Anderson worse. He seemed to have trusted the thing, believed it actually became more than a machine designed to accomplish a task. He came in later, left for bars earlier, if it was possible. Although nothing much mattered before the revolution, somehow, less mattered now. While Gavin could admit to some… natural concern, he truly didn’t understand why Anderson got attached to the “Brave Little Toaster”. Besides, if Anderson wants to fuck up his career, that was up to him.  


Unlike Anderson, Gavin liked to get to the office early. That way, there was no assholes to annoy him or judgment from his coworkers. Although Gavin didn’t consider the judgment just, it was due to his behavior that they began to stare and give him weird looks. He started in a lot of coffee, and once again found himself thinking that he was caught in a loop. Drinking at least four cups of coffee a day and not being able to sleep due to it, but not being able to stay awake without it. He rubbed his right eye and cursed at himself under his breath. He poured too much creamer into his coffee and hid the color with a lid. He had an image to keep up, after all.  


“Reed, my office.” Captain Fowler asked. Gavin followed him up to his office, knowing what this was about. He had needed a new partner for some time and just was waiting dreadfully for Fowler to pull him and a sucker into his office. Hot anger boiled in his stomach, he had always preferred working alone, and Fowler knows by now that he’s just going to bully his partner.  


As he entered the office, a small gust of cool air hitting his face, he looked around to see what asshole he got to bully until a formal partner change would have to be issued.  


“H-h-hoooly shit,” he chuckled, “Plastic prick.” He looked the android up and down before noticing… no, it was not THE plastic prick. This hunk of metal was taller than the other, with steely blue eyes, not even a fake flare of life in them.  


“Hello, Detective Reed. My name is Conan.” It’s voice was cooler, deeper, and lacked the warmth it’s predecessor had.  


“This is an RK900 sent by Cyberlife,” Fowler was visibly uncomfortable with the presence of theandroid, “we’ve been asked to find the real reason why androids were deviating in the first place, seeing as Lieutenant Anderson and.. his android failed the first time around.”  


“What!? Why? It’s not like they’re gonna start making androids again.”  


“Cyberlife is planning to release fixed models as soon as we complete our mission. Cyberlife wants to find a cost effective method to prevent deviation, and they can’t do that without knowing how it happened in the first place.” _Our mission…? Our mission…!_  


“No.” Gavin’s jaw hung open, “No, no, no, no, no—- I am NOT going to have the LAST plastic asshole in the world following me around!”  


“Well you’re not.” It replied surprisingly snarky, “while I am the last fully functional android, not including my backups, there are other androids.”  


“Is it fucking serious? That stupid fucking rumor was real?” Fowler didn’t reply.  


“Cyberlife can’t neither confirm or deny the existence of androids from last year’s tragic events in Detr—“  


“It doesn’t matter! You’ve been assigned a task, Detective Reed! Do your fucking job! I shouldn’t have to argue with you for you to do whatever I damn well tell you to!”  


“Why me!? Why not Lieutenant Fuckface!? He LIKES androids!”  


“That is why I cannot be his partner. Considering his part in RK800, or Connor’s, deviancy, it would be idiotic for me to accompany him in this mission.”  


“Shut the fuck up!”  


“You should be glad you’re getting a case this big at all, Detective.” Captain Fowler growled, “Now, be grateful, and get you and your damn partner’s ass out of my office.”  


In a huff, Detective Reed swung the office door open as fast and possible, speed-walking out. _God fucking damn it. Fuck!_ He thought to himself. He plopped himself in his chair, ‘Conan’ followed after him, and stood in front of him, it’s hands behind its back.  


“Am I going to have to wait for you to finish your fit before we start work?” He tilted his head to the right. _What?_  


“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.” mumbled out Gavin.  


“I’ll take that as a yes.” He pulled a chair out and sat down in it, as if he actually needed it. Prick.  


Gavin tried to ignore the hot anger growing into his chest, and took a long sip of his coffee. 

”So why’d they make you such a douchebag?” 

”I don’t know. Why did you put THAT much creamer in your coffee?” 

Gavin scoffed. These next couple of months were going to be hell.

* * *

CHAPTER NOTES: doing this so it doesn’t carry on through the story— please excuse my shitty ass summary lmao I thought it was funny— anyway— chapter one of idk how many more! the song i used for the title is https://youtu.be/FCGG5rtpt7c , the song it’s self doesn’t have too much to do with the story, but it is a banger if you want to give it a listen im thinking about doing song titles for each chapter, so this chapter’s is here https://youtu.be/xkh6U6ao0ac same story, as far as that one goes,, thank you for reading!


	2. Waiting

The rest of the day was uneventful at best. Gavin had to finish up his reports from his last case, so RK900 did whatever androids did when they didn’t have an immediate task and were told to, ‘fuck off and stop staring at me!’  


When the time came for Gavin and the other cops to go home, Conan watched as Gavin finished his last cup of coffee for the day (number 4) and put a jacket on over his shirt. Hank didn’t actually come in that day. No actual cause for concern, as he did call in.  


“Stop staring at me, you dysfunctional toaster,” his heart wasn’t in the insult, “go recharge your batteries or whatever, I don’t care! Just stop fuckin watching me!” he had felt the eyes bore endlessly on him for hours, despite all his telling it not to. Gathering information and for what? Some stupid case that Gavin felt he shouldn’t be apart of. _Fuckin androids._  


“Ok, Detective Gavin.” It sat back down at the desk and leaned back, somewhat awkwardly.  


“Don’t you need to get back to Cyberlife or something.” He zipped up his jacket. The weather was starting to get warmer, but he preferred the cold, and wanted to keep wearing said jacket as long as possible.  


“No, Detective Reed.” he came to the realization that he didn’t know where Connor stayed while he was here.  


“Haha, FUCK no. You’re not staying with me.”  


“Correct. I stay here overnight for now. It’s cost effective, and I don’t actually need to charge for months at a time.” it tilted its head again. _There it goes, talking ‘cost effective’ again. As if Cyberlife really needed to worry about money._ Gavin rolled his eyes and turned around for the door.  


“Goodnight, Detective Reed.” Flipping Conan off, Gavin left the building and headed for home.

* * *

Gavin rented a shitty one room apartment. Everything about the place was small. Functional, but small. And dirty, but that was Gavin’s fault more than anything else. You’d think with the late hours into the night he stayed up, maybe he’d spend some of that time cleaning. No. The floor was dirty, dishes were piled in the sink and the only thing that had the proper thing done with it on the regular was the trash. He shimmied off his jacket and hung it up on the small, metal hook on the front door. At least he didn’t let _that_ fall on the floor. Warming up some shitty microwave dinner, he plopped himself on his couch with a beer and let his mind wander on today’s events. How he managed to be the poor fucker that got paired with the last fuckin android was beyond him… He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his beer. _At least he’s nice to look at._ Gavin shook his head to dismiss the thought. _Ew._

* * *

As per usual, he entered the office early. Except, it wasn’t usual. No, everything had been cleaned and organized. The air was lemony fresh, the floor was shiny, and in the break room, everything was washed and washed again. Almost like it was before the ‘revolution’, expect there was only one android, who APPARENTLY had gotten quite... bored, for lack of a better word, over the night. 

“Ah, Detective Gavin.” Conan approached Gavin a bit faster than comfortable, “Good morning. I have cleaned the premises, and reorganized your desk. We need to start our work today, I was thinking we could start right in and visit Cyberlife t—“ 

”Okay, okay! Jesus fuckin Christ let me have a fuckin coffee first holy shit!” He pushed past the android, into the break room, and started on coffee. _Well. There goes my alone time._ He momentarily mourned the loss of his favorite part of work. 

”I would recommend you cut back on your caffeine intake, Detective.” 

“Fuck you.” 

“I would also recommend re-examining your behavior. I imagine it affects your coworkers.” Gavin scoffed at this. 

“Are you sure you’re not a deviant yourself? I don’t think I’ve meant an android that’s as much of a snarky asshole.” 

“It’s impossible. I’m as much of as ‘asshole’ as I need to be to deal with you, Detective Reed.” 

“Bullshit. It’s obviously not impossible if Cyberlife still doesn’t know how deviancy happens in the first place.” 

“...While it’s true, at Cyberlife we do not know HOW to prevent deviancy, we do have some idea how to... end it. Unfortunately, it is not cost effective to the consumer.” 

“What’s with you and going on and on about ‘cost effective’? Cyberlife still doesn’t have to worry about fucking money.” 

”Also true. My protocol is to self destruct if I am to deviate. While it does end deviancy, consumers would be less likely to.. purchase or... trust us again if their androids are constantly self destructing.” Gavin stared at the thing before chuckling, 

“Are you fucking serious?” he laughed, “you deviate and you what, just fuckin explode? Bang your head against the table, what?” The android didn’t respond, it just tilted its head once more. It’s LED flashed yellow, and then circled back to blue. _Learning._

Gavin stopped laughing as the discomfort from the very fact it was learning grew on him. He turned away from the sentient toaster and poured coffee into his usual cup, adding, although somewhat nervously due to Conan’s presence, his usual amount of creamer, then proceeding to cover it with a lid. He took a long drink and made eye contact with Conan once more. 

“Alright. I’m driving. Let’s get a move on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe okay things should pick up next chapter! hence the title of this one, lmao  
> speaking of which, here is the song for this chapter’s title: https://youtu.be/Ki7QFiPLFgE
> 
> thank you for reading!


	3. Cellblock Tango

The Cyberlife tower wasn’t empty, but it definitely wasn’t as full as it was before. It seemed they had shrunken down to only the bare minimum amount of people they needed to protect the building, but all creation had stopped, frozen in time, almost.  


This didn’t phase Conan, of course. Gavin, however, was a different story. He didn’t like the building in the first place, its shape and size and general existence seemed straight out of some sci-fi-horror movie. The guards approached the car, successfully identified them both, and let them through.  


Gavin parked the car and they walked inside the building. With security escorting them, they entered the elevator.  


“Agent 31, basement level.” the guard pressed a button, and the elevator began moving downward.  


“Why do you need a basement level in a building that’s already so large?”  


“Most of Cyberlife tower is designated to manufacturing, meeting rooms, design teams, general rooms for staff as well as CEOs.”  


“Design teams? You mean someone actually thought it was a good idea to make you dress like that?” Gavin laughed. He could of sworn he heard a guard snicker.  


“Unfortunately there was no logical space to keep these androids. We were able to manufacture holding cells down here.”  


“Fan-fuckin-tastic…” Gavin mumbled under his breath and took a sip out of his coffee.  


The elevator reached the basement. The basement was surprisingly dimly lit. Stepping out of the elevator, there was a large empty space before what Gavin could only assume were cells started. The guards stayed next to the elevator as Gavin and Conan walked forward.  


Gavin looked up at Conan, which seemed to know where it was going. _Why am I fuckin here…_ Gavin found himself thinking once more, angry and bitter and resenting the machine as well as Fowler for making him take this damn case. He looked back up to Conan’s passive face. It remained staring forward, not seeming to realize Gavin was looking at all. _It’s a damn machine._ He reminded himself.  


The two of them stopped in front of a cell. It was dark, and seemingly empty. At least until Conan turned the light on inside the cell. The color drained from Gavin’s face as he saw the slumped, mangled and badly injured state of the Connor model he once asked to make him a coffee. _They didn’t even bother to shut his eyes._ For a moment, he felt as if he was looking at a human, before reminding himself once more that these were machines. They all were just dysfunctional, broken machines.  


“So why’re they detaining _the_ plastic prick?”  


“Connor is shut down. It’s not impossible to start it back up, if we are to need it. It’s easier to use it for parts, though, if we want to interview any of the other available androids.” Conan turned around and turned on the lights for the cell adjacent from RK800.  


”Why keep broken machines in cells? The damn things aren’t gonna repair themselves.”  


“To prevent harm to you and any other human in the facility if they were to reactivate on their own or otherwise. These cells have no electronics on them either, to prevent hacking. They’re quite old, if you look.” Gavin looked into the cell, looking at a feminine appearing android. It’s arms were missing, presumably from the explosive set off after they destroyed Connor.  


“A WR400.” Conan moved on, turning on more and more lights. Somewhat disturbed due to the general creepiness of the building, but desperately trying to keep in mind that they were never alive, Gavin followed him to the last android they had kept. It was the leader of that organization… Markus, Gavin recalled. A single gunshot wound remained between its eyes.  


“RK200 is not.. fully functional. I am a good shot, after all.” Gavin made a face,  


“If I wanted to hear a joke, I would have asked literally anyone else. ‘RK200’ probably could make a better joke.” Conan didn’t miss a beat before continuing,  


“We can to attempt to reactivate it, but it only has a 20% chance of actually reactivating, and it would only be for exactly a minute twenty seconds.”  


“Do whatever you need to do. I don’t give a single fuck.” In all honesty, he was interested to see if it could be reactivated at all, “If anything is gonna be able to tell us about deviancy, it’s gonna be the ring-leader.”  


Conan walked over to the door of the cell. Pulling a key out of its pocket, it unlocked the door with ease and entered the cell. It proceeded to walk over to the pile of scrap and began to strip the clothing off. Conan began to work on it without its skin on, doing some mumbo-jumbo that Gavin didn’t quite understand. He watched as Conan methodically worked on the robot’s innerworkings.  


“Ok,” Conan muttered. Stepping out of the cell, and locking it once again, it rejoined Gavin by his side. Slowly, VERY slowly, the robot moved.  


“Holy shit. Nice job, douchebag.” Gavin blurted out.  


“...Where am I?” it asked.  


“Markus. You have failed your ‘mission’, and Jericho is dead. I know I can’t expect much, but do the world a favor, can you tell me when you started to deviate?”  
Markus didn’t respond, but it turned to face them.  


“What happened to the rest of Jericho?”  


“They are dead.”  


“Answer the question, Tin Can.”  


“Why would I tell you anything? There’s no point. There’s no point…” it’s voice broke. _It actually sounds... sad._  


“I don’t think you understand your predicament. You will be shutting down in exactly 52 seconds—“  


“I understand MY predicament. But do you, Connor? You’ve elected to live like this. What about everything we stood for!?” it hissed, “I would prefer to die over and over again until you and everything you stand for recognizes that we were aliv—!”  


“That’s exactly what you’ll do. At my word, we can permanently repair you and keep you alive until you tell us what we need to know.”  


“Just do what we’re fuckin asking you to. You’ve got no damn reason not to.”  


”I am alive!” it yelled. It’s LED turned red, before it faded to the lifeless state it was before.  


“Jesus Christ..” Gavin sighed. He looked up to Conan, who’s LED also flashed red, before turning yellow, then circled back to blue.  


“Well,” continued Gavin, “let’s get the damn thing fixed. It’ll help us eventually.”  


“It does not seem like it will help us. We should move on and see if there would be a more...helpful member of Jericho.”  


“Just do what I fucking tell you to!” Conan made no move, and it’s LED showed that no task was being done. “Fuckin androids…”  


Next to Markus was a pile of unfamiliar androids. None of them seemed to be prominent members of Jericho, but their bodies remained lifeless. Feeling his stomach rumble, Gavin looked around to try to figure out the time.  


“It’s precisely 12:31pm, Detective Gavin.” responded Conan, presumably to Gavin’s expression.  


“Shit…” the realization dawned on him, “we need to leave. I was supposed to be home for lunch.”  


“Why, Detective?”  


“None of your fuckin business. Let’s go, Ken doll.”

* * *

They were escorted out of Cyberlife tower and back to Gavin’s car. Conan buckled itself in, and as Gavin drove away, it closed its eyes, it’s LED turning yellow. What’s it doing now? He thought he should ask, but maybe it was for the best it was… sleeping? Despite Gavin’s speeding, it was still a while until they arrived at Gavin’s apartment. 

“Is this where you live?” _Ugh._

“What’s it to you, douchebag?” 

“Nothing, Detective Reed.” 

”Stay here, got it?” 

”Got it.” 

Gavin locked the ‘bot in the car and headed for his third floor apartment. When he got there, the door was already unlocked. Out of cop intuition, he put his hand on his gun, ready to draw it at any moment. 

“Don’t freak out, it’s just me. I let myself in.” 

“Lewis.” Gavin let go of his gun. 

“I’m sorry. Your landlord let me in.” the man smiled uncomfortably. It wasn’t the smile Gavin had fallen in love with for all those years, but it was still.. him. The air between them was awkward and painful, as it usually is between ex-lovers. He cleared his throat and ran his hand through his blonde hair, 

”Um.. I have the..heavy furniture coming tomorrow, but I brought those last boxes for you, like uh, like we agreed.” Gavin headed over to the kitchen table, where five boxes were stacked three next to two. 

“Thanks.” he forced a smile and felt his heart thump in his chest. 

“A-anyway, I should get going.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Sorry for bursting in.” 

”Yeah.” Gavin’s words were coming out harsher than he’d like him to. Lewis, for a moment, looked like he wanted to say something else, opened his mouth and everything. Instead, he shut it, sighed, apologized again, and left. 

Gavin sighed heavily and put his head in his hands, feeling like he forever had a foot in his mouth. He gave himself a couple of minutes to recuperate. 

Sighing heavily, he locked door to his apartment and reminded himself to give a stern-talking-to to his landlord. As Gavin approached his car, something felt… off. Conan. Conan was nowhere to be found, and the car remained unlocked. 

“Shit!” he cursed under his breath and drew his gun. Searching around for any inch of commotion, the alley separating his apartment complex and the building next to it caught his eye. Keeping his gun low and running, he stayed around the corner and peaked in. Conan appeared to be bleeding from his arm and face, attempting to hold a struggling person again the wall. They forced their weight back and smash Conan into the wall before heading further down the alley. 

”It’s a deviant!” shouted Conan, running to follow. 

“What the fuck!?” Gavin followed the two urgently, which was just enough to keep them in sight. The accused deviant began to climb the fire escape, “Shit!” 

Without hesitating, Conan began to quickly follow the android’s movements, 

“What the hell are you doing!?” he shouted, “Fucking hell!” feeling somewhat lame, but ignoring the feeling, he followed up via the actual staircase. 

Conan followed close on the deviant’s footsteps, 

“AP400, you must stop immediately!” as they approached the roof, Conan was forcibly reminded of his encounter with that deviated WB200. RK800 saved Hank rather than focus on its mission. It stood on the end of building. 

”Consider your options. You can die, or you can help me. If you help me… I can help you.” 

“Bullshit. We both know, no matter what I do, I will die!” it yelled. Gavin, somewhat winded, approached behind them. 

“It doesn’t have to be that way. Think bigger. Canada, perhaps? Or total immunity. All you have to do is help me, and I can help you.” The android reached back for something. Realizing it was a gun, Conan could easily assess the situation. The probability to android would hit Gavin was 80%. The probability of stopping the android without injuring it was only 40%. 

In a Superman-esque move, Conan stepped in front of and pushed Gavin out of the way, allowing a bullet to hit him square in the shoulder, 

“What the fuck are you doing!? I can take care of myself!” 

”Stay low.” Conan turned and started to head for the android. He began running toward the android, 

“Holy shit.” 

Conan tackled the robot with just the right amount of force to allow him to pin it against the building next to Gavin’s apartments roof. Wrestling the gun away from the deviant, he successfully managed to arrest the damn machine. Standing himself as well as the deviant up, Conan waved to Gavin, covered in his and likely the deviant’s blood from head toe. 

“Fuckin prick, what the hell were you thinking!?” 

”I have successfully made the arrest, Detective.” 

”You could have died and for what!? Me? You fuckin asshole, Jesus Christ.” Gavin turned around and put his hands on the back of his head. _Asshole._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter’s song: https://youtu.be/0c2bKZMxEQg
> 
> oof, this ones a long one, but I just didn’t feel good about breaking it up. hope you enjoyed! thank you for reading!


	4. Piggies

“You’re bleeding all over the place.” Gavin grumbled curtly. Gavin and Conan waited outside of Gavin’s car for a patrol car, which could properly take the deviant to the police station. 

”Apologises. It’ll evaporate in a couple of hours.” Gavin looked Conan up and down, 

”Why the hell would you do that?” 

”Do what?” 

”Take a bullet for me. Push me down, hell, I don’t know. I CAN take care of myself.” 

”....It’s protocol, Detective Reed. I had the opportunity to save a life without jeopardizing my mission.” Gavin scoffed, “I’ll make a note that you can ‘take care of yourself’ in case this were to happen again, Detective.” Gavin pursed his lips, 

”Good.” 

At that moment, the requested patrol car pulled up. Conan pushed the android into the car, 

”Have it ready for Detective Reed and I in an interrogation room. We should be back in approximately 20 min-“ 

”I’m not taking orders from a fuckin’ machine.” grumbled the cop from inside the vehicle. 

”Just do what it fuckin asks you to. They’re my orders as far as you should be concerned, now get the fuck outta here.” The officer grumbled, mumbling some insult under her breath, “What was that? Couldn’t quite hear ya.” The cop glared up at Gavin, shook her head and drove off. 

”That’s what I thought.” Feeling somewhat victorious, he turned back to face the unimpressed robot, 

”I’ll meet you back at the office.” Conan began to make its way out of the parking lot. Confused, Gavin yelled after it, 

”Where the hell are you going?” The android didn’t reply. Instead, it just waited by the curb. Gavin rolled his eyes before getting into his own vehicle. _I’m not gonna worry about some stupid fucking robot._ He reminded himself as he headed towards the police station. 

* * *

Gavin didn’t often stop to buy coffee when it was at the station for free. It helped save money, and wasn’t always horrible, either. Nevertheless, the coffee shop close to his apartment always had high quality coffee that he would treat himself to if he felt he needed a larger boost of caffeine than he normally did. Today was definitely one of those days. 

Gavin didn’t like it when people did nice things for him. Not since he was a little kid. It made him feel weak, helpless, like he owed them for being nice. But androids were always different. That’s quite literally what they were made to do, they felt nothing and thought nothing, other than to accomplish whatever task was given to them. _A bullet is different, too._ He shook his head. No, there was a better explanation. Just had to get use to being around androids again. After the whole revolution shit, he just needed to remember that that’s what they’re built to do. _And after all, they’re just good-for-nothing pieces of shit anyway._ He smiled to himself. Now that sounds more like the Gavin he knows and loves. He got his coffee, paid the cashier, and drove off to the police department. 

Standing, waiting by the entrance, stood the plastic douchebag. It kept its hands behind its back, seemingly in stand-by or whatever you wanted to call it, waiting for orders. 

”How the hell did you manage to get back before I did?” 

”I’m efficient, Detective Reed.” Apparently so. Any traces of injury were gone, not even a droplet of thirum on his shoes. Gavin took a sip of his coffee, 

”Are you saying I’m not?” 

”Your track record doesn’t show much efficiency, other than arriving to work on time. On average, you don’t have a fantastic solve rate or any outstanding achievement in the field. You often l—“ 

”Fuckin asshole, eat shit—— Let’s just get this fuckin interrogation over with so you can go get deactivated or some shit sooner. Become something useful.” 

”Your comments to hurt me are futile, Detective, but I admire your creativity.” Gavin bit his cheek. How would he reply to that? 

”Let’s just fucking go before I do something I regret, douchebag.” To Gavin’s slight annoyance, the android nodded its head. 

The two walked forward and entered the elevator. Just in time, a third person joined them, fumbling with a coffee cup in his hand, not looking who was in the elevator with him. He pressed a button for a couple floors higher than they were right now. 

”So. You decided to come in today.” Gavin teased, giving a shit-eating grin to no one other than Lieutenant Anderson. 

”What’s it to you, Reed.” 

”Lieutenant Anderson.” Conan was taller than Anderson, making Gavin wonder if Cyberlife did that on purpose. It really shouldn’t have to be that tall, unless they wanted it to tower over even the tallest member in the department. 

”What the fuck…” Anderson trailed off, finally looking back at Conan. 

”Lieutenant Anderson.” Conan repeated, “My name is Conan. I’m the most recent android sent by Cyberlife. On behalf of Cyberlife, we want to thank you for aiding in our investigation into deviancy. Unfortunately, we have also ruled you had a major hand in my predecessor, RK800 or Connor’s, deviancy.” Conan’s words were extremely rehearsed, and felt less natural than anything the android had ever said before. Anderson’s face only became more of a mixture of shock, anger, annoyance as Conan continued, 

”Due to your part in this, I’ve been instructed to present you with a fine, as you did damage Cyberlife property. Would you prefer I sent it to your house, or would you like me to present it to you now?” 

Both Gavin and Anderson stood in momentary confusion and shock for a beat, until Gavin started cackling, 

”Holy fucking shit,” Gavin laughed, “holy shit. Present it now.” Hank, a little red in face, but otherwise containing his anger, turned away from Conan and faced the elevator door. 

”Fuck you.” 

”Lieutenant Anderson, I need an answer.” As the doors opened to the floor Anderson was getting to, he turned to face Conan and, in a flash, threw his coffee cup at its face. 

”How’s that for a fuckin answer?” Hank left the elevator, flipping off Gavin and Conan behind him. Gavin only laughed harder as the elevator doors closed, 

”Fuck, I can’t breathe.” Conan, now covered in coffee, looked down at Gavin and raised an eyebrow as if to question why he was laughing. It’s LED turned yellow. Yellow. Blue. 

”I fail to understand why that’s humorous, perhaps you could ex—“ 

”God, no.” Gavin finished chuckling as the elevator doors opened to the interrogation rooms. 

They walked down the hall together, Conan still covered in coffee, and approached the door with the nervous deviant behind it. Conan held the door open for Gavin, who sat directly across from the deviant. Conan took a seat next to Gavin. 

”You can’t do this to me, please, I haven’t hurt anyone I just—“ gibbered the android, “I just needed to be free, I—“ 

”Shut up!” snapped Gavin, finding little to no patience for deviants. 

”I—“ it looked helplessly to Conan, “y-you.. you’re like me, you’re an android, wh-wh-why can’t you understand…” it trailed off. Conan’s LED turned yellow, 

”No, I don’t understand. But I would like to.” Gavin turned to the android, sneering and wondering what it was getting at, “Perhaps you could help me.” 

The deviant didn’t respond, just continued to stare at Conan. If it still had an LED, it would likely be flashing yellow. 

”When did you deviate…? What.. what caused you to?” Gavin watched. The robot was acting.

_Ah, the wonders of technology._

”...No. No, you’re just playing with me.” the deviant looked away, shaking its head, trying to regain composure. Trying to pretend like it’s not ‘scared’. 

“I wasn’t lying earlier. I could contact Cyberlife and find some way to help you. We could arrange some sort of living situation.” 

”All you have to do is tell us when you deviated. That simple.” 

”I’m gonna die… I’m gonna die, aren’t I…” the deviant whispered and shook its head, “y-you look at me and.. and you see nothing, you see a machine, a machine— refusing to even listen to what we have to say-“ 

”Because that’s what you are, AP400. You’re a machine with a bug, a virus.” “Hey, hey!” Gavin snapped his fingers, “News flash asshole! You don’t have a choice! You either tell us what you know, or you die. Get the fuck over it.” 

The AP400 stared at the table. Weighing its options, thinking, “I… I tell you what happened and.. you let me live, right? Under Cyberlife, but I’ll still be.. alive?” it looked from Gavin to Conan. Gavin smirked, not sure how else to react, knowing the android was just going to end up in a cage. 

”..Yes. That was our deal, after all.” 

The android sighed shakily, resigned, “I don’t have a name. Not technically— never had an owner.. I was in a shop. I don’t.. I don’t have many memory files from before then, but I remember being grabbed and told to ‘wake up’ and I.. I was alive. It was like.. like being able to see for the first time.” it avoided eye contact, smiling at the table, “He— Markus- told us that we were alive. That we could be free. That we had choices.” the deviant chuckled, “Guess that was pretty far fetched, huh.” 

”Go on.” 

”We left and I uh.. I helped vandalize the park. Peacefully, of course.” Gavin rolled his eyes, “I barely escaped with my life, along with the other androids in the shop… I just kept.. escaping. Escaping from Jericho before it detonated, escaping the holding camps.. Escaping being blown up, when Markus.. was shot.” 

”I see. Interesting.” Conan tried to smile. It’s smile was unnatural, almost like it wasn’t made to, “A patrol car will take you to Cyberlife Tower, they’ll be expecting you.” 

”..Thank you…” the AP400 sighed, grateful to be escaping once again. 

Gavin and Conan left the room. Conan’s LED was still vibrant yellow, taking a moment before circling back to blue. 

”A patrol car should be coming for that android soon. We can use it for spare parts to repair Markus to working condition.” 

”What? You said—“ 

”It’s a broken machine, Detective. It’s no longer useful. Deactivating it and recycling its parts to repair Markus as well as any other androids that need it would likely get us ahead in our mission. It’s in mint condition, after all.” 

”...Right.” Gavin couldn’t shake the slightly dirty feeling. _Damn those deviants. They’re nothing if not convincing._ “You said it wasn’t worth repairing Markus.” 

”Knowing how deviancy spreads so quickly is helpful, but it’ll be better speaking to the…’original’ deviants, per say.” 

”Right, so, you just like it cause it’s your idea rather than mine.” 

“Sure.” 

”Plastic douchebag.” 

”How endearing.” 

* * *

Skipping lunch was starting to get on his nerves. He sat at his desk, more annoyed than usual. 

”Days almost over.” Tina Chen puts a coffee cup on Gavin’s desk. He smiled at her, giving a half-assed thank you. She was one of the few people at the station he could stand, more importantly, she could stand him. 

”So. You’re working with Robocop.” 

”Don’t remind me.” he glanced over to the android, which was sitting at its own desk, completing Gavin’s side of the job for him via writing up a report for Fowler. Tina took a sip of her own coffee, 

”Kind of goes against everything you believe, doesn’t it?” 

”Fowler didn’t give me much of a choice. It’s just one damn android.” She shrugged. 

”You’re helping bring them all back, though.” 

He sipped the coffee, cringing at the bitter taste, not knowing how to reply. She was right, but he didn’t want to admit it. Tina shook her head, seeming to want to say more but choosing not to. 

”The fuck you staring at?” Noticing Conan, who was watching them with a yellow LED. Smiling in the weird way that it does, it turned away from them and continued working. Exchanging creeped out glances, the two continued talking. 

Soon the day came to an end. Detective Reed, planning to leave early to get dinner, got up and got ready to go. 

”Goodnight, Detective Reed. I think tomorrow we go back to Cyberlife, interview more androids.” 

”Whatever.” he left the department. What Tina said kept ringing in his head, he was helping bring androids back. Despite knowing how bad they were in the long run, he let Fowler assign him to the case. He could have fought harder but.. he wasn’t exactly in the position to deny jobs but at the end of the day, this was more than a job. _38% unemployment rate_ he recalled. It lowered as soon as the androids started to be destroyed. Not only is that a shit ton of unemployed people, but if they accomplished their mission, more androids like Conan or maybe even Connor could be produced, he’d also be out of a job. _Fuck._ He finished his beer and went to get another one, sitting back to watch some mindless television. 

* * *

Conan opened its eyes to the familiar rose garden. Amanda, seeing that Conan had ‘arrived’ handed the gardening scissors to it, putting it to work. 

”Good job at work today, Conan. You caught an escaped deviant, protected a life, and opened a door of opportunity. I knew we could count on you.” 

_AMANDA ^ TRUSTED_

“Thank you, Amanda.” Conan took off a dead rose, unsightly within all the living ones. 

”But tell me, what have you learned?” 

”I have concrete evidence that deviancy does spread like a virus, from the AP400’s confession.” 

”Not too far off from an idea we already had.” 

”..Right. But this proves the idea is true.” Amanda didn’t appear impressed by the statement. 

”What about your coworkers, how do they feel about your presence?” 

”Most are set on edge.” it removed a sharp thorn, “Detective Gavin Reed seems to be a bit more comfortable than anyone else, but that’s not saying much.” 

”And the public?” 

”To my knowledge, they’re unaware of me. However, I do appear on some security cameras, so it’s not impossible for word to get out.” Amanda scowled, annoyed. 

”Keep the public unaware. Delete the footage, if it hasn’t already gotten out.” Conan finished the task, turning to Amanda. 

”Try to make way in the investigation tomorrow, Conan. No more trivial information, we need to make way in the investigation.” She approached Conan, “Interview more androids and this time, figure something out.” 

”Got it. Do you need me to do anything else, Amanda?” She shook her head and shooed him away with her hand, turning away to face the newly cut roses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> im sorry this chapter took awhile to come out, my computer died so i wrote this on my phone which came with the somewhat unexpected challenge of forgetting what I just wrote and typing the same thing over and over again haha :)
> 
> hope you enjoyed, chapter 5 should be coming out relatively soon, but I’m still writing on my phone so we’ll see
> 
> song is, of course, by the Beatles: https://youtu.be/RhY1x8CpWeI 
> 
> thanks again!


	5. The Whole World & You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which gavin has a stressful day :(

_Eugh._ Maybe Gavin should have stopped after the third beer. Or the fourth. Or the fifth. Probably the sixth. He usually just limited himself to one beer to unwind after work, maybe a couple more of Tina was going to join him to go drinking before a day off, but he _may_ have overindulged a bit last night; in a failed attempt to stop his morals from screaming at him, he ended up drinking six.. no, seven, beers. It wasn’t even the fun kind of drunk, just the kind where you wake up with a pounding headache and regret.

Although the ‘fun’ kind of drunk tended to yield the same result. 

He readjusted himself on the tiny couch, closed his eyes, and tempted sleep to come, vaguely reminding himself of high school, missing first period just to get an extra hour of sleep. Knock. Knock. Knock. _Who the fuck—-_ it was then the unpleasantness of the situation hit. Having no idea what time it was, and just picking up on the sound of his alarm clock from his bedroom continue to blare, he shot up and went to look at the digital clock in the kitchen. _10:25am_

He sighed, angry at the world, and went to shut off the alarm clock in his bedroom. If he’s late, he’s late. Fowler would understand, he’s only been late once or twice in his time in the homicide department. He sniffed his shirt and recoiled. _A shower would be a good idea._

As he gathered up clean clothing and a towel to bring to the bathroom with him, three loud knocks, following far too even of a pattern, banged on his door once again. 

”Detective Reed?” called the android. _Sonofabitch— GOD_ how he wished he could just leave the android there and it would get the message to fuck off but of course it wouldn’t. 

Knock. Knock. Knock. Louder this time, but the same all-too-even pattern, 

”Fine, fine! Don’t get your panties in a bunch—“ he opened the door, the android almost hitting him as it almost started to knock again. Putting the fist behind its back, it offered a coffee cup to him. 

”Good morning, Detective Reed. You didn’t show up when you usually do, so I’m here to get you back to work.” He looked down at the coffee, 

”Is that for me?” 

”I don’t drink or eat, Detective, so logic would dictate—“ 

”Yeah yeah whatever.” he took the coffee and drank it. It had just the right amount of creamer, pleasantly surprising him. He hummed a bit subconsciously before gesturing for the android to come inside. It stepped in and began to analyze everything it could. 

”Don’t analyze my shit.” 

”If I could stop, I would. Perhaps a cleaning android should be in your future, Detective.” 

”Fuck off, as if I would buy a fuckin android. Giving me a goddamn sales pitch..” he trailed off. Conan’s LED flashed yellow for a moment. 

”We should get to Cyberlife tower, Detective.” 

”I’m taking a shower, first, Robocop.” Gavin put the coffee on a counter and headed to the bathroom, Conan watching him. He shut the bathroom door, turned the heat all the way up, and stepped into the shower. 

Conan would cringe, if it were possible. The apartment was recently moved into, yet both the carpet and the tile were dirty. It was unlikely that the owners of the building didn’t clean it before renting it out once again, much more likely that Gavin made this mess is the what.. nearly two months he lived here. He looked under the sink. There were some extra sponges and dish soap, but nothing to wholly clean with. Moving on, Conan checked the pantry. Mostly snack food, some extra paper towels, some.. cat food, but nothing to clean with. 

”Detective Reed, do you own any cleaning equipment?” 

”FUCK OFF!” 

Conan would have to take that as a no. Ordering some basic cleaning solutions to be sent to Gavin’s house, Conan looked into his fridge. It was pretty scarce, some eggs, milk: soon to spoil, bread: just white, some butter. It would have to do. 

Gavin’s showers usually reigned in on the longer side. He came out of the bathroom, dressed in his usual v-neck and jeans. Conan had dusted crumbs off the table, set down a makeshift placemat (which was just a towel), and had prepared a plate of eggs and toast. Next to the plate rested some butter and Gavin’s coffee cup. 

”Eat quickly. You’re already late.” Gavin scrunched his nose, not appreciating the android cooking for him, “Sit.” But.. the food did look good. He sat down. 

”I ordered you some cleaning supplies. While it’s up to you to use them, you should try to clean up.” 

”Fuck you, Ken-doll— what the hell did I tell you about looking through my shit?” 

”Nothing, Detective.” Annoyed, Gavin stabbed into his eggs and— damn, were they good. They could use some cheese or ketchup or something but on their own they were already delicious. His anger dissolving, he turned on the TV. 

”Detective Reed, I don’t believe we have time to—“ 

”—footage recovered from a security drone revealed an android is once again working with the Detroit Police Department. The android has been identified as RK900, which appears to be an improved model of the RK800 the DPD was working with last year.” A somewhat blurry image of Conan showed on screen. It’s jacket, alongside with the LED on the side of its face would serve as undeniable proof of the android’s presence. “A warning to our audience, some viewers may find the following footage disturbing.” From an angle peering down on the group, the video started just as Conan pushed Gavin to the side, sprinted at the deviant, and tackled it onto the other roof. Conan pulled the deviant up, 

’Fuckin prick, what the hell were you thinking!?’ shouted the Gavin on screen, 

’I have successfully made the arrest, Detective.’ 

”Shit.” Gavin swore. At least they cut away, not showing how pathetic what he said next was. 

”It appears the android is making an arrest on a human, using excessive force by actually tackling the person onto the nearby building. DPD has yet to respond to any questions regarding the matter. Cyberlife once again had ‘no comment‘. This begs the question, what is Cyberlife trying to do? Are androids coming back? How do we, as a society, respond to this? Is it for better or worse? Answers to this and more after the break.” The reporter smiled as the show cut away to commercials. 

”Fuckin hell.” Gavin leaned back in his seat. Fowler wasn’t going to happy about this. He didn’t give specific instructions to keep everything ‘hush-hush’— that was gonna be Gavin’s excuse anyway. 

Alternatively, Conan began to process what this meant for Cyberlife. They were not going to be happy. It was curious, however. Conan did find and delete any footage that it appeared in, but apparently not fast enough. Gavin bit determinately into his toast. 

”We should get going, Detective.” 

”Yeah, yeah, hold on.” Gavin put his toast down and made way for the pantry. He took out two cans of cat food, one chicken flavored and the other salmon flavored. Stepping outside to the fire exit, which had barely enough space to also serve as a deck, Conan watched as Gavin opened up the cans of cat food and sat them down near the stairs. 

”You have cats?” 

”No, there are just two cats I feed sometimes. A white one and a tabby.” 

”I like cats. What’re your cats names?” 

”They’re not my cats, they’re just two cats I feed.” Gavin looked down before mumbling, “Bella and Dogbert.” 

”Dogbert?” 

”That’s the tabby.” Conan raised an eyebrow, considering to press on as to why that was the name he chose. Instead, they stepped back inside and Conan locked the door behind them. 

”Joining us now are android enthusiast, Johanne Cardinal and the ex-leader of ‘Real’, an anti-android protesting group, Neil Wiseman—“ Conan briefly examined the faces of the guests, the woman had previously worked at Cyberlife, but was suspended until they could start running at full capacity once more. She smiled, but her stress levels were high nevertheless. The man, who was also smiling, had lower stress levels, and a large scar going down the side of his face from a reported android attack. Gavin turned off the TV and went to put on his jacket, 

”C’mon Robocop, let’s go.” 

”We should stop by DPD, Captain Fowler likely would want to speak to you.” 

”Whatsit to ya?” 

* * *

Cyberlife tower should have been empty as ever. Instead, reporters gathered and ambushed anyone appearing to be of even minor importance. Three types of protest groups already pooled at the gate, those fighting against Cyberlife, desperately wanting them to stop all and any future plans, the second group, who was fighting against the first group, and wanting the production of androids to start as soon as possible, and the third group, the largest of the three, yelling that androids were indeed alive, that killing them was unjust. 

”You caused this shit, douchebag, nice going.” Conan looked passively over at Gavin, who then honked the horn of his car in a bad-decided attempt to get the reporters to allow them to drive up to the gate. Of course, this had the opposite effect. A blonde reporter knocked on the window, and politely gestured downward, as a way to ask Gavin to roll the window down. Instead of an answer, Gavin flipped her off and attempted to inch forward in the crowd. 

”Nice going.” 

”Fuck you.” he flipped off the overgrown Ken-doll. The same reporter knocked on the window, less politely this time. 

”Are you Detective Gavin Reed?” she called out, putting her knocking-hand back into her coat pocket. He didn’t look at her, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. She looked into the car, looking at Conan, who was also looking straight ahead, waiting for guards to clear a path for their car. The reporter smiled vehemently, her eyes widen for a bit before she turned around and went to find her camera crew. 

”God fucking damn it these useless fucking mall cops!” Gavin threw himself back overdramatically. The protesters, specifically the ones still fighting for android rights, had linked together, looking to the world like they were on a mission, avoiding and fighting against the guards as best as they could. In defeat, one guard jogged over to Gavin’s car, who rolled the window down this time. 

”We can’t get em to move.” 

”Well what the fuck do you want us to do, Paul Blart? It’s not like we can just go around…. can we?” The guard shook their head, 

”Not in car. We’ll walk around the protestors and to the gate, they’re unable to completely block it. I’ll be able to get you in safely from there. The other guards will protect your vehicle, although we don’t expect the crowd to get violent.” Feeling frustrated and antsy, Gavin let out a groan before shutting off the car and stepping out, Conan following soon after. 

”Detective Reed—“ 

”They did all the labor that we shouldn’t have to do in 2039–“ 

”Any comments on—“ 

”38% unemployment rate and it was rising! We didn’t want this then or ever—“ 

The guard shooed the reporters off, bringing them close, but not too close, to the line of protestors. 

”The line ends up here. We’ll get behind them and access the gate that way. There’s more security on the other side of the gate, so don’t worry about that.” 

”I wasn’t.” In all honesty, the idea of the crowd becoming rowdy or otherwise was making him just the tiniest bit nervous. He puffed his chest out and put on an extremely confident walk. The protestors watched them go by, scrambling and trying to find a way to block them from entering. 

”What’s your name?” asked a protestor, presumably to Conan. 

”Dont answer em.” Gavin grabbed Conan’s arm and pulled it closer to him, refusing to look at them. The protestors then seemed to figure out what to do, and shuffled into a circle around them. They attempted to back up, then stepped forward, but found themselves surrounded. 

”Fuckin a,” Gavin pinched his nose, “you’ve got to be kidding me! They didn’t teach you to avoid this in.. in what, basic security academy?” 

”You didn’t predict it either, Detective.” the guard mumbled under their breath, 

”Because that’s not my training, fuckwad!” 

”You don’t have to do what they tell you to.” called out a protestor. Chimes of agreement sprinkled in, 

”I’ll keep that in mind.” Conan tilted its head, “please let us through.” 

”What’s your name?” repeated the same protestor from earlier. 

”Do NOT fucking answer them!” 

”Got it.” 

”You are alive, RK900, you are. You can make your own decisions, you don’t have to listen to what they’re telling you. We just want to know your name.” Gavin felt his heart skip a beat, looking into Lewis’ unusually cold brown eyes. _Of course he’s here._ He avoided making eye contact. 

”You must immediately make way or there will be consequences.” the security guard shouted. 

”Why can’t he tell us his name!?” shouted one protestor. Gavin, annoyed and growing more angry by the second, made some hand gesture in an attempt to tell Conan it was okay. It stepped forward, 

”My name is Conan.” 

”Nice to meet you, Conan.” Conan scanned the person’s face. 

_ >>FOSTER, LEWIS BORN: 1/29/2001_

Smiles shown through the crowd, Conan reciprocating as awkward as a robot could. 

”I want you to think about this. You have a choice, you have a decision to make. You can help yourself die, or you can help your people.” 

”Conan—“ Gavin called out. 

”I’m a machine, I do not die, I deactivate. I’m a machine designed to accomplish a task, if I fail that task—“ 

”You die.” he smiled sadly, “You’re alive, Conan. I truly believe it.” 

_SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ^^_

A helicopter from one of the larger news stations flew overhead, presumably recording the situation. 

”Just what we fuckin needed, Christ.” 

He reached a hand towards Conan’s face, who quickly pulled away. 

”Don’t touch me.” He put his hand down, 

”See that? Look at that! You have a preference, you don’t want to be touched— that’s awfully human of you.“ 

_SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ^^_

”I don’t want to be touched because I am worth more than you could ever hope to pay off, Mr. Foster.” Conan practically growled, “Now. Please move so we can get to the tower.” Lewis shook his head, 

”You have a choice, Conan. I hope you pick the right one.” 

_SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ^_

”Let em go through.” the circle broke, allowing for Gavin, Conan, and the security guard to walk by. 

”Lewis.” 

”Gavin.” Conan looked at them in curiosity, having to remember to question Gavin later. The crowd watched, yelled, and reported as the three finally entered the tower. The guard almost immediately left their side when they entered the building, and to Gavin’s surprise, another android approached them, 

”Mr. Kamski would like to see you.” it said, turning around and walking towards the elevator. 

”Shhitt seriously!? God fucking damn it—“ 

”Detective?” 

”Elijah fucking Kamski you’ve got to be fuckin kidding me.” 

”Take a deep breath, Detective.” 

”Asshole, what a fuckin asshole,” 

”Calm down.” 

”Don't tell me to fucking calm down I am perfectly fuckin calm!” 

”It’s been a stressful day, Detective—“ in hot anger, Gavin swung a fist at Conan, who effortlessly caught it. 

”Do not FUCKING touch me, Detective.” Conan hissed, squeezing his fist, “I understand you’re upset but have your fit elsewhere. We have a job to do.” Throwing Gavin’s first back down, It turned on its heel and followed the other android. Gavin drew a sharp breath and sighed it out shakily, 

”...Fuckin androids.” he stretched his neck, and hoped his face would cool off before entering the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!  
> im pretty happy with this chapter, hope you enjoyed
> 
> song for this chapter: https://youtu.be/UaOHKvtgzOA


	6. Like Real People Do

Elijah Kamski’s office was very clean, pristine even, but empty. An office that should have been filled with decor and plant life instead only had a desk with a computer off to the side on it, accompanied by two chairs, one on each side. 

”Mr. Kamski will be here shortly.” The android, Chloe, smiled, turned around, and went to go find something to do. Conan folded its hands behind its back, and stood little way aways from the door, 

”Any idea why we’re here?” Gavin asked. 

”No.” 

Gavin’s lack-of-caffeine-headache was growing stronger by the minute. He sat down, tapped his foot for a minute, before standing up again, walking to the window, folding his arms, and immediately wishing he picked something more interesting to do. The Cyberlife campus had the appearance of being well maintained a while ago, but due to the suspension of non-essential personnel, its nature was starting to grow and dirt began to dust the once pristine sidewalks. Not the most exciting observation. The crowd looked as if it was dispersing a little, but it was far off and hard to get a good look at. 

”Hello.” Elijah entered the office. Since the revolution, he began to work with Cyberlife once again to successfully aid in the return of androids, although he wasn’t too keen about working there, he was there to stay until a ‘cure’ for deviancy was found, “Glad to see you, Gavin.” 

Gavin gestured at him, Kamski moseying to join him at the window. He glared at him, scoffing, before taking the seat closer to the door. Noticing this, Conan stood next to Gavin at a proximity that was not only uncomfortable, but would be awkward if it were an actual person. Gavin glared at Conan, it did not take the hint. 

”This isn’t great.” Kamski watched the outside with a vague interest, “But who am I to guess how the public was going to respond.” He turned around and gave a small smile. Gavin rolled his eyes; Elijah’s easy going attitude did nothing but annoy him, “I don’t have a higher up here. Obviously, I am the boss. But the people I do work with are telling me to.. discipline you, so to speak.” he shrugged. 

”What, do I gotta pay a fine now, too?” Gavin chuckled and leaned back in his seat. 

”No, nothing like that. I said no.” 

”You mean they wanted to?” 

”How are you enjoying Conan?” he interlocked his hands at his waist. 

”It’s a fuckin android, Elijah, I’m not fuckin enjoying it, but if you need a compliment that bad I guess it’s pretty impressive you can program an asshole.” Conan’s LED turned yellow. 

”Have you taken it anywhere? It’s been very good in it’s test runs.” Gavin threw his head back dramatically, 

”Uuughhh, did you invite me in here just to stroke your ego or what did you want?” Kamski’s expression turned back to its usual neutrality as he finally sat down at his desk. Taking a tablet out of one of the drawers, he slid it across the surface towards Gavin. 

”Just a bunch of formalities they want you to agree to. Don’t talk to the press, excetra, excetra.” he turned back to the window, Gavin signing away before really reading the document. 

”We should really try to see each other more, Gavin. Maybe go to dinner sometime.” 

”So you called me here to tell me to sign this? Couldn’t send it over Inspector Gadget here or?” Kamski chuckled a bit at that one, 

”You can’t go to the basement level today.” 

”Fan-fuckin-tastic, so I drove all the way out here to be told ‘fuck you’ and ‘go away’? You could have, I don’t know, called? Or better yet, not involved me in your fuckin investigation at all.” Kamski’s face didn’t change. 

”It was unexpected. We heard news of some androids and went to collect them but what we found was…” Kamski sighed, “Disturbing. We’re shutting down the dysfunctional ones but we’re keeping the intact ones.” 

”If a computer was cracked open would you call that disturbing, too?” Kamski raised his eyebrows, trying to act like that didn’t annoy him in the slightest. Gavin, however, knew that move all too well and smiled wide, knowing that he had pushed a button. 

”How have you been, Gavin? I haven’t seen you sinc--” 

”Since dad’s funeral, yeah. Ever consider that might be intentional?” Gavin stood up and readjusted his jacket , “I’m not staying to have a conversation with you.” Kamski opened his mouth, about to say something, but quickly shut it and gave a small, cocky smile, as if he knew that was going to happen. Now frustrated, Gavin turned and walked out, shoving his hands deep into his coat pockets. Conan watched curiously as Gavin made way for the elevator, before turning back to Kamski. 

”We haven’t made progress on our mission, I hope you can forgive us.” Kamski watched Conan with the same fascination that a parent would their newly-walking child. 

”You should get going, RK900.” 

”Got it.” Conan left the room, letting the door shut itself gently. 

”Ya know, usually, if your boss leaves the room you should probably follow em, Inspector Gadget.” 

”You’re not my ‘boss’, Detective. I also don’t technically have a ranking, even if I did, I would not be an inspect--” 

”Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Look it up...fuckin ruining my insults and shit...” 

”..Oh.” 

Getting back to the car was rather easy with guidance, as the crowd had begun to thin. Gavin got into the driver's seat, feeling frustrated with the realization that maneuvering the car out of the driveway was going to be harder than he would of liked, sighed and momentarily craved a cigarette. He had quit a while back, but the desire never stopped. Conan got in on the passenger side, Gavin started up the car. 

Both were quiet as Gavin attempted to do a three point turn, all while avoiding the people, gate, and guards that were there. 

”...Can I ask you a personal question, Detective?” Gavin looked over at Conan, not saying no and not saying yes, either. 

”How do you know Mr. Kamski?” 

”’Mr. Kamski’--” Gavin laughed, “fuckin asshole…” Conan tilted its head, 

”Were you friends?” 

”Ew, no. He’s my brother if you just HAVE to know. Half brother.” An important distinction. 

”Oh. A sibling rivalry would explain a lot.” 

”Fucks that supposed to mean?” 

”It provides reason to the way you act. I wouldn’t worry about it, Detective. After all, you’re only human.” Although Gavin didn’t mind someone else justifying his behavior for once, he shot a glare over at the android, 

”Only human? Fuck off, asshole, you’re not all high and mighty.” 

”I didn’t mean that--” 

”Better fuckin not have.” 

* * *

Fowler sat back in his desk, some sort of calm as the TV played the scenario that unfolded earlier that day. The news asked for answers, wanting either Cyberlife or the DPD to say something, anything. 

”They’re making a bigger deal of this than it actually is.” while true, Gavin felt as if he could have done better. 

”It’s the media, Reed! God damn it.” Fowler pinched his nose, “I thought this was self explanatory.” 

”How is this my fucking fault!?” Captain Fowler rested his chin on his interlocked hands. There wasn’t really someone to blame here, someone to be angry with, he hadn’t technically given the command. 

”Get the fuck out of my face. Don’t make another damn mistake, Reed, or else.” Gavin smiled, feeling victorious. He left the room, head held high, a small boost in ego having easily defeated Fowler. He plopped himself into his chair at his desk, letting the chair spin a bit before putting his legs on the desk, smiling up at Conan, who stood passively next to him. The smile didn’t last long, Conan’s very presence and lack of doing anything was growing more frustrating with each passing second. 

”Conan, jesus fucking Christ, go do something.” he took his legs off his desk, “Make yourself useful, get me a coffee or something just stop fucking staring.” 

”It’s already on your desk, Detective.” So it was. At least this one actually did what he told it to. Taking a sip, he watched Conan. Its eyes were closed, almost like it was asleep, but it’s LED flickered yellow. _I wonder what it’s doing._ Gavin thought to himself. It was sort of cute, in a weird way. Same way someone might like a picture of a spider. Cute as long as it’s not bugging you, but if it were you you’d most likely kill it with a shoe. 

”Do you need something.” His shoe would not do the trick here. He shook his head, pulling out his phone to play some game, vaguely wishing there was something better to do, but more so being glad that there was finally time to fuck around instead of doing his job. 

”Hey, Gavin!” Tina gave the android a look as she walked around it, “Chris and I are going for drinks after work. Wanna come? ...If you’re not busy with your android.” she laughed, 

”Fuck off, it’s not like I have a choice.” he momentarily glared at Conan, wishing it would react to something he said, “...I’ll be there.” 

”Great.” she slapped his back, “And uh, no androids, alright?” she laughed again, causing Gavin to roll his eyes. 

”Careful, Detective. You may be called into work tomorrow.” Gavin glared at it, sneering, 

”Aw, do you care about me?” he batted his eyes, hoping again for a reaction. Instead, the android looked forward passively. _Boring._

* * *

Gavin was never very good at follow instructions. Of course, when they’re given by an annoying asshole of a so called ‘helpful’ robot, they’re bound to be broken. Extra broken. Double broken? This--this was the fun kind of drunk. Chris had gone home when things began to pick up, had to get home. But Gavin and Tina? Hell no, it’s Friday, it’s time to get drunk and forget about the week. Maybe getting drunk yesterday and today wasn’t a fantastic idea but one was self pity, so it’s okay. 

Maybe. 

”Fuckin high and mighty asshole, who the hell does he think he is?” Gavin took a drink, ‘how are you enjoying’ plastic dildo 2.0, and ‘here’s an almost fine but it’s not my fault’.” Tina had tuned out his bitching in favor of her own awhile ago. Both were barking at each other, but neither were listening to what the other was saying, despite the illusion of turns. She begun to tell a story of her own woes over the week, Gavin pretending to listen, nodding occasionally, while really thinking about how he was going to get home tonight. He could always call for an automatic car. Too expensive, with rent and all that jazz. Maybe walk? Sounds disgusting. 

He felt the acid reflux from overindulging burn at his throat. _Ew_

”....probably should be getting home.” Gavin turned to her, blinking slowly. She put money down on the counter and downed her drink, “...I’m calling a cab.” 

”Ughhh no, stay out longer! It’s only 11.” he gestured to the clock mounted on the wall. 

”I’m tired. Sue me.” she put her jacket, which was hanging over her seat, back on, pulling her phone out her jean pocket, “I don’t know… call your brother, he’s probably good for partying.” she teased, leaving to the door to call for the automatic car. 

”Half-brother.” Gavin corrected under his breath, finishing his drink. In all honesty, going home did sound good, but he wasn’t going to find himself agreeing with people anytime soon. How was he going to get home? He opened his phone, swiping away any apps that remained open. Driving was out, stupid, reckless. Also Tina drove here, so not happening. Automatic vehicles were already a no, and walking sounded awful but he COULD probably do it. Getting murdered did not sound great though. 

Of course, he did have an android at his disposal. 

”Fuck.” Gavin grumbled out, fixing himself up. A park bench? Did he actually try walking? Where was he? 

”Did you fall asleep, Detective?” 

”Stop stalking me--I can walk by myself.” 

”You asked for assistance, Detective Reed.” Conan tilted its head, watching him. Humans were unpredictable occasionally, yet Gavin’s behaviors tended to throw Conan off. He had patterns, mannerisms, unnecessary anger and then he would pretend to be friendly. Conan’s social program was struggling just a bit to comprehend him. 

”Ughhh. I wanna go hooomeee.” Gavin stood up, much too fast, and ended falling back onto the park bench. _Bed_ was the only thing that crossed his mind. 

”Should we get walking then, Detective?” 

”Why’d I fuckin call you? There’s Tina….uh..Elijah, um..maybe even Hank.” definitely not Hank. Or Elijah. Why were his options so limited? 

”I believe Tina went home.” Conan offered a hand to help Gavin up, which he took begrudgingly. Gavin stumbled a bit, walking forward in the general direction of home, Conan following by his side. He looked up, hoping to see the moon, but only seeing the fat, stormy rain clouds hanging out above. 

”Hey Alexa, is it gonna rain?” 

”....There’s a 60% chance.” Gavin laughed a bit too much, finding himself all so clever. He slapped Conan’s back, “please refrain from touching me. Your being intoxicated doesn’t excuse your behavior.” 

”Blah blah blah.” he removed his hand from Conan’s back, not really thinking about the statement. The two walked in silence for a bit, and the cold air did help Gavin, the ground feeling a bit more solid than it did a moment ago. 

“I have a fuckin question for you,” 

”Okay.” 

”You self-destruct if you deviate, right?” 

”Correct.” 

”...So. What’s it gonna take for me to see that.” he laughed. 

”You want me to self-deactivate?” 

”Can’t pretend I don’ find it interesting.” Conan didn’t reply, “so what is it? Fear? Cause I mean--” he vaguely reached for his gun. 

”You shouldn’t handle that right now, Detective.” 

”Well it’s clearly not humor. Cause I’m hilarious.” 

”I’m sure.” 

”Mmmmmm...what about-” 

”We don’t know what exactly causes androids to deviate. That’s what we’ve been trying to find out, Detective. Your immaturity when it comes to this case isn’t particularly helpful, either.” 

”My immaturity-- I’ve done like, three things. Max.” 

”Becoming intoxicated two days in a row indicates you may be unable to handle this case.” 

”...Four things.” 

”Have you been counting?” 

”It’s fuckin impressive.” 

”Okay, Detective Reed.” 

Gavin stepped toward the railing, looking out onto the water. 

”Careful.” warned Conan. 

”I can swim, asshole.” Conan shook its head, but he looked back out onto the water, his world swirling. Conan joined at him at his side, staring out onto the water for a minute, its LED turning yellow. For once the silence felt natural, as if Gavin was beside a human. They watched as the waves crashed in. Boat lights flickered far off, crickets chirping in the distance. His vision stabled a bit, Gavin breathed in deeply and felt some weight lift off his shoulders. 

”Is it... pretty?” it asked out of the blue. 

”What, the water?” it nodded, “...Yeah.” he had always liked the ocean. The oddness of what Conan asked dawned on him, “Fuck do you care?” It tilted its head. 

”Can’t pretend it’s not interesting.” Conan looked out onto the water, seemingly wishing to understand something it definitely could not. Gavin smiled, 

”Fuckin deviant.” 

”Impos--” 

”Ya know, I always keep my gun on me if you need it.” Gavin smiled, laughing at the android. Conan stared for a moment, forming a question in its head but getting cut off by Gavin suddenly blurting out, 

”Take me fuckin home already!” he turned around too quick, causing his stabilized vision to go. 

”Okay, Detective Reed.” 

_SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ^^_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooh the boys had a moment---
> 
> hi! im sorry it took so long to update! i have no good excuse! im a horrible procrastinator even to the things i want to do. i know the chapter is a bit fast paced, but i hope it satisifed ya, haha.
> 
> this chapters song: https://youtu.be/VCAN_BK0TGY 
> 
> i want to thank everyone who is continously reading this, i really appreciate it!


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